Navy sailor sentenced to 3 months, discharged from service for rape

Groton — A Navy sailor found guilty of raping another sailor in March at his home near the Naval Submarine Base was sentenced Thursday to three months’ confinement and a bad conduct discharge from the service.

A jury of seven officers and enlisted members sentenced Jeramie Martin Hutchinson, 26, an information systems technician second class assigned to the base. Because the sentence includes a bad conduct discharge, Hutchinson will be reduced to the lowest pay grade.

He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Hutchinson was found guilty of one count of rape, in violation of Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military’s criminal code, after a two-day general court-martial at the base on Wednesday. He was found not guilty of sexual assault for two other alleged sexual acts.

Hutchinson was taken into custody and will be transferred to the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, R.I. It has not yet been determined when and where he may enter the Navy correction and brig system.

Because Hutchinson was sentenced to a punitive discharge, the case will be subject to automatic appeal.

Hutchinson and the 22-year-old victim met on an online dating site about two years ago, according to the testimony. The two sailors made plans to meet in person for the first time after the woman was assigned to Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island earlier this year. They went hiking at Bluff Point State Park on March 10.

The government argued that once they returned to his house, Hutchinson choked and sexually assaulted her. The defense said she lied about being assaulted so she could be transferred.

Hutchinson, of Sebastopol, Calif., enlisted in the Navy in August 2006 and was a member of a performance monitoring team at the Regional Support Group in Groton.